More Than Anything
by mrjmo
Summary: Heart-to-heart between the three Charmings. It gets a bit sad in the middle, but I promise everything end up okay. Maybe a little OOC.


**A/N: okay so this is somewhat of an AU in which Emma actually went to lunch with Neal at Granny's, but they decided to just go as friends with Snow and Charming. **

The doorbell began ringing sharply and repeatedly, as if someone — as if a child — were pushing down on it. Then knocking. "I'm coming, Henry!" Emma called, rushing over to the door. As soon as she unlatched the chain, the boy swung the door right open.

"How was your double date?" He asked gleefully while removing his sneakers by stepping on the heels and throwing his backpack on the floor next to the coatrack. Emma's eyes widened as she turned to her mother and father, who were both smirking.

"Double date?" she questioned.

"Yeah!" Henry grinned. He opened the refrigerator and took out the bottle of orange juice.

"Whoa, kid, it wasn't like that. It was just-"

"Henry, maybe you should-" Snow interjected, but it was too late: Henry had already begun guzzling the sweet juice right out of the bottle.

"Gross, kid, don't do that." Emma warned.

"Sorry," Henry replied.

"Yeah. Anyway, it was just lunch, as friends. Nothing more."

"So... you're not getting back together with my dad?" Henry blurted, his words running together. It was clear to Snow and Charming that he'd been holding that question in since the moment he'd stepped through the front door. Regardless of her parents' perception, Emma was shocked.

"No, no, I don't... I don't think so." She replied, and smiled weakly, while ruffling his hair. "I know you want this fairytale ending type a' thing," she glanced at her mother for help.

"I think, Henry, what Emma's trying to say... is that not everything works out like it does in stories. Which," she added quickly, "I know you're fully aware of. I just think, maybe, nobody's ready to get in any kind of serious relationship." Emma's forehead creased with a mixture of sadness and concern, which Snow noted. "And I don't know that she- that they- ever will be." Henry looked like the life had been knocked out of him. His head and shoulders drooped and his eyes grew glassy.

"But what about hope?" he interrogated, "What about 'happy endings begin with hope'? What about 'believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing'? I don't know why everybody is losing their hope all of a sudden. I just want us all to be happy, for once." He proclaimed, grabbed his bookbag, and took off for his room. Emma looked hurt, to say the least. All she had wanted, his entire life, was what was best for her son. Now she wasn't sure it was best for him to know about Neal. It absolutely was not best for him to hope for his parents to be together again, because, well, fat chance of that happening. Was there actually chance? Could she possibly like him again, after all he put her through? Her mind raced and the room began to rotate.

"Emma? Honey, are you okay?" Charming asked, squeezing his little girl's hand.

"I don't... I just... I don't know! I don't understand. I mean, you guys tell me I have this big crush on Neal, then Henry tells me I have this big crush on Neal, then Henry gets upset because he's wishing for something that I know will never happen-"

"Emma," Snow interrupted. Emma turned to look at her mother as her lip began to quiver.

"Do you know what he put me through?" She asked. Her voice broke. "I had Henry in jail. I couldn't even look at him. I didn't see his face until three years ago. I just always knew, more than anything, that I had to give him his best chance. I'd been telling myself that since the beginning and I knew his best chance wasn't with me. Do you know what that's like?" Emma whispered with tears steadily streaming down her rosy cheeks. Now Snow was the one to look taken aback. That's when she realized. "Mary Margaret, I–"

"Emma..." Snow began. Charming looked like he could burst into tears any second. She had never seen her parents, her valiant king and queen parents, looking more vulnerable than they did in that instant. Emma felt remorse building up inside her stomach and chest and begin to pound its way out.

"No, Mary Margaret, D-David, I am so sorry..." her voice trailed off. "I'm sorry. Thinking about the past, about Henry's past, about Neal and my past... it just upsets me. I'm sorry."

"Emma... you know we wish with all we have that this... this this never had to happen. You don't deserve it. He doesn't deserve it," she gestured to the stairs, to Henry. "I'm the only one who deserves this." She looked down at her feet as the first tear left her eyes. Charming opened his mouth to do something: object, comfort her, he didn't know what. What he did know was that Snow was the most pure of heart of anyone. He knew Emma and Henry were pure of heart, too. As was he. No one deserved to have their family torn away from them, but things happened the way they happened and there was nothing anyone could do to fix them. Charming merely placed his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

"That's not true," he mumbled into her soft hair. "It's not true, my love."

"It's all my fault," she choked. Her face scrunched up as she began to sob. "I'm so sorry." All the pain Emma had felt as a child, all that emptiness rushed back into her body.

"I love you." She said confidently. Her voice did not break; she did not allow it to. She looked at her parents with utmost respect and compassion and, although Snow wished it was sympathy, she looked at them with empathy. "I love you." she repeated, even stronger than before. She decided it was the strongest she had ever said anything in her life. Snow and Charming looked into her eyes. She already knew they loved her, too. Emma smiled, though weakly, as her eyes watered.

"Oh, Emma." Snow sniffed. "We love you, too. More than anything."

"More than anything." Charming confirmed.


End file.
